The Advertising Industry Won’t Be Useful Anymore

In his provocative new book, Reengineering Retail, expert Doug Stephens argues that the whole point of advertising was to drive people to stores and then help them remember specific brands once they got there.

But with new developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, the 60 – 80% of our shopping which is routine, repeat purchases will come to us automatically.

And even new products will be brought to our attention by algorithms that know us almost as well as we know ourselves. We won’t have to go hunt for what we need or want, it will be served up to us — possibly even before we know we want it.

Advertising won’t be enough to break through the stranglehold companies like Amazon will have on most of our buying.

Most advertising agencies now are simply switching money from traditional advertising to digital, but that’s not working, says Stephens.

“We don’t want to see ads on Facebook either.”

People don’t want to engage with brands on social media. Sure you can bribe them into “liking” you, but that’s meaningless. Very few will see what you are doing on your Facebook page or Twitter feed, and even if you force paid advertising on them they resent it.

(Who hasn’t waited impatiently for the 3 seconds to pass so you can click “skip ad” and get to what you really want to see?)

Stores Need a Completely New Model

Stores need a completely new model.

The advertising industry grew out of a need to drive people to stores, but soon traditional stores will also be a thing of the past, Stephens argues. What benefit will they offer over online shopping, especially as technology makes it faster and easier to identify, find and quickly deliver what you want?

In our interview he proposes turning the store model upside down.

The real reason people go to stores, even now, is for an experience. That experience can be the excitement of the mob at Walmart on Black Friday, or a place where teenagers can go to avoid their parents.

But unless more stores start figuring out how they can offer experiences people treasure, even the advertising industry can’t save them.

Tema Frank has been helping businesses and organizations market themselves more effectively on the Internet since the late 1990s. In 2001 she founded Web Mystery Shoppers Inc., one of the world's first remote usability testing companies, and one of the very few to do large-sample size usability testing.

In 2012 she launched the Frank Online Marketing Show, a weekly podcast devoted to helping Canadian companies become more successful online.

She has taught e-marketing at the University of Alberta and the Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour (in France), given seminars and workshops on the topic, and written about how the internet can help businesses sell more and communicate better.

She is also the author of the best-selling book, "Canada's Best Employers for Women: A guide for job-hunters, employees and employers."